Garment hanger



United States Patent 3,225,979 GARMENT HANGER Ben E. Lundrnan, R0. Box 325, Bay City, Oreg. Filed Mar. 19, 1963, Ser. No. 266,248 4 Claims. (Cl. 223--94) This invention relates to garment hangers, and more particularly to a garment hanger which is adjustable in its lateral dimension for supporting skirts and trousers of various sizes.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger which is of extremely simplified construction for economical manufacture, which may be secured firmly in various positions of adjustment of its lateral dimension, and which accommodates with speed and facility the adjustment of the supporting hook to the center position between the lateral ends of the hanger.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of a garment hanger embodying the features of the present invention and showing one form of supporting hook construction;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 33 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 4-4 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation, similar to FIG. 1, showing a second form of supporting hook construction; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 6-6 in FIG. 5.

The garment hanger of the present invention includes a pair of elongated wire rods 10 and 12 the major lengths of which are disposed substantially parallel to each other in superimposed spaced relation. The outer end portions 10' and 12' of the respective rods are bent downwardly, as indicated, or otherwise formed to engage a garment which is to be supported. In the embodiment illustrated, the downwardly extending outer portions of the rods are adapted to engage the inner sides of the waistband of a skirt or trousers.

The other end, hereinafter called the inner end, of vthe first rod 10 is offset downwardly and formed with a loop 14 which freely receives the intermediate portion of the second rod 12. This loop supports the rods in spaced relation and guides them through their relative longitudinal movement, for adjusting the outer end portions 10', 12' toward and away from each other, and thus accommodate the hanger to garments of various sizes.

Means is provided for locking the rods together in positions of adjustment, to prevent inward movement of the outer end portions thereof. In the embodiment illustrated, the locking means comprises a locking plate having one end portion 16 provided with an aperture 18 for receiving freely therethrough the downturned inner end portion of the lower rod 12. The terminal end of this portion is provided with an enlarged head 20 which serves to retain the locking plate on the rod. The opening 18 is slightly larger in diameter than the rod 12 to provide the limited pivotal movement of the locking plate, as explained more fully hereinafter.

The opposite end portion 22 of the locking plate is provided with an elongated opening 24 freely receiving the lower rod 12 therethrough. A second opening 26 in this portion of the locking plate' is spaced outwardly from the elongated opening, and is dimensioned slightly 3,225,979 Fatented Dec. 28, 1965 "ice larger than the diameter of the upper rod 10 which is received freely therethrough. The wall defining this opening extends substantially perpendicular to the plane of the locking plate portion 22, and the latter projects angularly from the first portion 16 so that the plane of the opening 26 is disposed at an angle to the axis of the upper rod. Accordingly, opposite edges of the wall defining the opening 26 are caused to bite into the rod 10, in the locking position of the plate, and to disengage from the rod when the plate is moved to unlocking position, as explained more fully hereinafter.

Simplified mean is provided for supporting the foregoing assembly on the usual closet rod. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 4, a length of wire rod is formed at one end in the shape of the conventional closet rod hook 30, and an intermediate portion of the rod adjacent the opposite end is wrapped, in a plurality of coils 32, closely about the lower rod 12 for frictional engagement therewith. By means of this frictional engagement the spiral coils may be slid along the rod and then retained in the position at which the hook 30 is centered between the outer end portions 10, 12 of the rods, for properly supporting a garment on the closet rod.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated, the terminal end portion 34 of the hook rod 30 extends upwardly from the last coil 32 on the side of the upper rod 10 opposite that of the portion 3% of the hook rod adjacent the first coil 32. By this means the upper rod is confined in a laterally extending opening defined by the upper side of coil 32 and the laterally spaced portions 30, 34 of the hook rod adjacent the coil 32. The upper rod 10 is thus prevented from rotating around the lower rod 12.

If desired, the terminal portion 34 of the hook rod may be extended upwardly and arcuately around the adjacent portion 30 of the hook rod to form an auxiliary hanger support 36 which may be utilized to support the hook 34) of another hanger assembly. The auxiliary hanger support is disposed substantially in the central vertical plane larger in diameter than the lower rod 12. The other length of wire rod is provided at its inner end with a similar loop 44 having an opening slightly larger in diameter than the lower rod. Intermediate portions of the two wire rods are twisted together at 46 and 48, for firm interconnection. The lower portion of the hook thus is formed as a U-shaped configuration of resilient wire. The outer end of the shorter rod may be extended to provide an auxiliary hanger support 56, in the manner of the auxiliary support 36 previously described.

The inner loop ends 42, 44 of the wire rods are spaced apart, as illustrated in full lines in FIG. 5, with the planes of their openings disposed angularly with respect to the axis of the lower rod 12. In this position the lower rod is gripped frictionally by the loops, whereby the hook 40 is secured against movement along the rods. When it is desired to readjust the position of the hook, the loop ends are squeezed toward each other, as indicated by the dash lines, whereupon the loops are released from their frictional engagement with the lower rod and the hook may be moved along the rod to the desired poistion of adjustment. Upon release of the loop ends, the resilience of the wire rods cause the loop ends to spring back to the normal position illustrated in full lines, to again grip the lower rod.

As in the first embodiment discussed hereinbefore, the portions of the rods which extend upwardly from the loops 42 and 44 lie on opposite sides of the upper rod 10 to confine the latter freely therebetween and thus prevent it from rotating around the lower rod 12.

The operation of the hanger of the present invention now will be described, it being assumed for illustration that it is desired to support a skirt on the hanger. The extending end of the mounting section 16 of the locking plate is pushed downward, to rotate the locking late clockwise about its pivot connection 18 at the inner end of the lower rod 12. The opposite edges of the upper opening 26 in the locking section 22 of the plate thus are disengaged from the upper rod 10, thereby permitting the outer end portions 10' and 12 to be moved toward each other. This movement is unrestricted since, although the lower rod 12 frictionally engages the supporting hook, either at the spiral coil-s 32 in FIG. 1 or at the laterally spread loops 42, 44 in FIG. 5, the upper rod 12 in both instances extends freely through the loop formed by the adjacent poritons of the hook rods, and the lower rod extends freely through the guide loop 14 formed at the inner end of the upper rod.

Having retracted the outer end portions 10', 12' of the rods to a lateral dimension smaller than the waistband of the skirt, they are then placed within the Waistband and pulled apart until they engage the inner surface of the waistband and place the latter under tension. This outward movement of the outer portions of the rods occurs without restriction because the locking plate is rotated clockwise to the unlocking position illustrated in dash lines in FIG. 2. However, when the waistband of the skirt has been tensioned against the engaging outer portions of the rods, slight inward movement of the rods 10, 12 tends to rotate the locking plate counterclockwise to the full line position illustrated, at which position the opposite edges of the openings 26 bite into the upper rod 10 and thus prevent further inward movement.

Having now secured the hanger rods 10, 12 to the garment, the supporting hook then is adjusted to proper position midway between the garment engaging outer portions 10', 12 of the rods. This is accomplished, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, simply by pushing the hook 30 along the lower rod 12, against the frictional interengagement of the lower rod and the spiral coils 32. Centering is accomplished in the embodiment of FIG. by squeezing the loop ends 42, 44 of the supporting hook 40 together to release their frictional engagement with the lower rod and permitting movement of the hook along the rod to the proper position.

Having once established the center position for the supporting hook relative to the spaced garment engaging outer portions 12 of the rods, readjustment is not necessary when the hanger is used repeatedly to support skirts having the same waistband size.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the details of construction described hereinbefore without departing from the spirit of this invention and the scope of the appended claims.

Having now described my invention and the manner in which it may be used, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A garment hanger comprising first and second elongated rods spaced apart vertically in superimposed parallel relation with the first rod disposed above the second rod and each having an inner end and a garment engaging outer end, guide means on the inner end of the first rod forming an opening freely receiving therethrough an intermediate portion of the second rod for adjusting the outer ends of the rods toward and away from each other, locking means interengaging the rods for releasably securing the rods together against inward movement of the outer ends thereof, a hanger hook, attaching means on the lower end of the hanger hook frictionally gripping the second rod for adjustment along the latter for centering the hooks between the outer ends of the rods, and confining means between the hook and attaching means defining a laterally extending opening freely receiving the first rod only therethrough and confining the latter against rotation around the second rod.

2. The hanger of claim 1 wherein the hanger hook, attaching means and confining means comprise a single length of wire one end portion of which defines the hanger hook, an intermediate portion of which has a plurality of coils frictionally receiving the second rod therethrough and defines the attaching means, and the opposite end portion of which extends upwardly past the first rod on the side of the latter opposite the wire at the other end of the coils, the portions of the wire at the opposite ends of the coils defining the confining means.

3. The hanger of claim 1 wherein the attaching means comprises a U-shaped extension of the hook having laterally spaced resilient arms provided with end loops receiving the second rod slidably therethrough, the arms being disposed normally in a position at which the end loops frictionally grip the second rod and being movable resiliently to a position at which the end loops release said grip on the second rod, the spaced arms spanning opposite sides of the first rod to confine the latter therebetween.

4. The hanger of claim 3 wherein the spaced arms normally are flexed resiliently outwardly to grip the rod frictionally in the spaced loops, and are movable inwardly to release said grip.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 668,673 2/1901 Brooks 22394 2,111,772 3/1938 Guillot 22388 2,148,688 2/1939 Freise 22389 2,650,007 8/1953 McVicker 22394 2,718,340 9/1955 Lundman 22388 2,774,526 12/1956 Reuer 22389 2,800,261 7/1957 Lee 22394 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Examiner. 

1. A GARMENT HANGER COMPRISING FIRST AND SECOND ELONGATED RODS SPACED APART VERTICALLY IN SUPERIMPOSED PARALLEL RELATION WITH THE FIRST ROD DISPOSED ABOVE THE SECOND ROD AND EACH HAVING AN INNER END AND A GARMENT ENGAGING OUTER END, GUIDE MEANS ON THE INNER END OF THE FIRST ROD FORMING AN OPENING FREELY RECEIVING THERETHROUGH AN INTERMEDIATE PORTION OF THE SECOND ROD FOR ADJUSTING THE OUTER ENDS OF THE RODS TOWARD AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, LOCKING MEANS INTERENGAGING THE RODS FOR RELEASABLY SECURING THE RODS TOGETHER AGAINST INWARD MOVEMENT OF THE OUTER ENDS THEREOF, A HANGERHOOK, ATTACHING MEANS ON THE LOWER END OF THE HANGER HOOK FRICTIONALLY GRIPPING THE SECOND ROD FOR ADJUSTMENT ALONG THE LATTER FOR CENTERING THE HOOKS BETWEEN THE OUTER ENDS OF THE RODS, AND CONFINING MEANS BETWEEN THE HOOK AND ATTACHING MEANS DEFINING A LATERALLY EXTENDING OPENING FREELY RECEIVING THE FIRST ROD ONLY THERETHROUGH AND CONFINING THE LATTER AGAINST ROTATION AROUND THE SECOND ROD. 